Please forgive the fans who bet the bank on Parise and Suter coming to Detroit and have thus turned into pessimistic pansies(aka Cindy Crosby types) now that they have decided to sign with the almighty Minnesota Wild! It's mind boggling the lack of faith I have seen throughout Yahoo, ESPN and LGW boards in Hockeytown's most successful GM. And arguably one of pro sports best GM's of all time. If there was a class and Ken Holland was the teacher, you can bet your bottom dollar I'd be sitting in the front row. I don't care if it's about how to properly roast marshmallows..the guy will show you how to make one damn good s'more! And say what you want about my inundated loyalty toward Kenny H but one thing is clear...the man knows hockey, he lives, sleeps and breathes it and he's done a damn good job of making this team competitive for the last two decades.

That being said, it's only a matter of time before he uses the big bucks from Mr. I to light up your eyes and realize this team will STILL be a contender. We all know the names still out there...Doan, Semin, and uhhh(crickets) yeah that's pretty much it. There is no top tier defenseman. There is no Brett Hull or Luc Robitaille and the best method of action at this point is, TRADE!

So I'm not going to act like I know all the salary cap lingo and what contracts match up to make these deals possible. I'll leave that up to Ken Dawg. But the rumors are everywhere. Rick Nash wants to be traded, wings show interest...Ducks will listen to offers for Ryan....Larry Murphy and Chelios say they'll suit up if the Wings need a 5th or 6th D-man etc. okay that's just ridiculous but you get the point. Don't you?

The best way to send some shock waves through the hockey nation and get the winged wheel in position for some future cup runs is by trade. And Ken to the H-town down, is going to make something happen! Get the player who IMO is an even better choice to fill the void left by the great #5. Keith "no scandle" Yandle and go get Bobby "two first name" Ryan! Send some young guys, Smith, Emmerton, a couple first rounders, cash considerations, Franzen, Filppula whatever you have to do to get them in the motor city. What you'll have is a 25 year old Ryan and a 25 year old Yandle set for the next decade. You still have Dats and Z and with a little money left over you could even sign Doan. We all know it's time to shake it up and if you can score these two then hopefully the Parise and Suter lovers will take comfort in "as close you'll get". Because that would be the next best thing to Zach and Ryan if not better in the long run. Take it or leave it.

Not true. Get one of them and get a 3rd team in on it for another one. It's possible. Not probable but that's not the point. The point is we need to make a trade. And even if we can only trade for one, that's fine. I'd much rather have Yandle than both Doan and Semin.

Not true. Get one of them and get a 3rd team in on it for another one. It's possible. Not probable but that's not the point. The point is we need to make a trade. And even if we can only trade for one, that's fine. I'd much rather have Yandle than both Doan and Semin.

So tell me Mr. GM, how would you structure your trade for both players? I will even let you invite a 3rd team in on the mix. Since you are calling for a trade, I want to see what your armchair GM skills are like.

I agree that we need to target Yandle and trade with our forward depth to acquire him, then try to collect Doan and Semin to replentish our forwards. One of Franzen or Filppula will be the centerpiece of the trade, Joey MacDonald might be able to fit into a backup role there, but I'm not sure whether they have space for him. Either a good prospect with a low pick or a less promising prospect with a high pick should be plenty for Yandle. If need be we can also trade a bottom six forward seeing as how we have 9 of them, but with Columbus driving up the cost of Nash, who knows what the asking price for defensman are right now.

I agree that we need to target Yandle and trade with our forward depth to acquire him, then try to collect Doan and Semin to replentish our forwards. One of Franzen or Filppula will be the centerpiece of the trade, Joey MacDonald might be able to fit into a backup role there, but I'm not sure whether they have space for him. Either a good prospect with a low pick or a less promising prospect with a high pick should be plenty for Yandle. If need be we can also trade a bottom six forward seeing as how we have 9 of them, but with Columbus driving up the cost of Nash, who knows what the asking price for defensman are right now.

Id rather see Franzen go over Flippula, I just have that feeling the Val is right on that edge of becoming a the standout player that we need him to be...

I can't see Kenny going after Nash or Ryan. The need right now is on defense. Yandle is the ideal guy. Something like Flip, Abs and Quincey may get it done. Sign Semin. Sign Doan if you can. Go with that. This would be a successful off season.

Id rather see Franzen go over Flippula, I just have that feeling the Val is right on that edge of becoming a the standout player that we need him to be...

The thing is, to acquire a top 2 dman like Yandle, who is entering his prime, will cost a premium. Phoenix is going to want Flip in any deal with Detroit. Kenny will have to give to get if he wants Yandle.

I can't see Kenny going after Nash or Ryan. The need right now is on defense. Yandle is the ideal guy. Something like Flip, Abs and Quincey may get it done. Sign Semin. Sign Doan if you can. Go with that. This would be a successful off season.

The thing is, to acquire a top 2 dman like Yandle, who is entering his prime, will cost a premium. Phoenix is going to want Flip in any deal with Detroit. Kenny will have to give to get if he wants Yandle.

Two RFA's and a UFA next year who will surely bolt for a 25 year old stud defenseman. There's no way you're getting Yandle, Nash, or Ryan without at least including one of Smith/Nyquist. These teams aren't going to give away their franchise players for scraps, guys.

Edited by Trapt1307, 05 July 2012 - 10:23 PM.

"Scotty hated the world and treated everybody the same, from me to Steve Yzerman,'' Legace said. ''Scotty would rip anybody, and had the personality of ant."

I can't see Kenny going after Nash or Ryan. The need right now is on defense. Yandle is the ideal guy. Something like Flip, Abs and Quincey may get it done. Sign Semin. Sign Doan if you can. Go with that. This would be a successful off season.

The thing is, to acquire a top 2 dman like Yandle, who is entering his prime, will cost a premium. Phoenix is going to want Flip in any deal with Detroit. Kenny will have to give to get if he wants Yandle.

Flip is a pending free agent, causing his value to decrease. Further, RFAs don't have nearly as much value as a signed player.

It will probably take Mule, Cleary/Tatar/Nyquist, prospect, and picks to get one top pairing d.

I think Yandle will be too expensive to acquire. Which is why perhaps Kenny could look to Bouwmeester in Calgary. I'm not sure what Feaster would want in return. We can't afford to give up any of our dmen that's for sure. JBO's cap hit is for 6.6 mil a year for 2 more years. He is 28 years old and soft as butter but he does move the puck well. We have the need and the Cap space and if the price is not too high, I could see Kenny making this trade.

Many people here who last year wrote Cleary off are now using him as a value piece in a trade. Not gonna happen.

I don't think we'll see many viable trade ideas here. The simple fact is that we'll need to give up quite a bit to get Yandle, and many here won't want to pay that price. Don't think that it would be easy for Holland to nab him at a reasonable cost.

Please for the love of God, do NOT get JBo ... terrible idea. Career negative in the +/- category, 6.6 mill ... are you kidding me ?? Unless you think we can somehow turn the clock back to the days when he was in Florida.

Every team is going to know we're in dire need for a defenseman. We literally have no leverage in making a trade. It just doesn't seem logical at this point. At least not until some point in the season when we see how we're doing and other teams need something we can give them.

Do not trade away Filppula, that would just be stupid.. Rather trade Franzén and Cleary.
Actually I think we have a promising defence as it is now. Sure we need something more, but not to expensive if were talking trades.

Sign Semin! Really think he´ll grow as a player in the company of Zetterberg and Dastyuk, beacuse who wouldn´t?
We do need a scorer, badly. And Semin is a potential 40-50 goal-scorer/season.

If we trade, then rather trade Ryan than Nash, because Ryan´s not gonna cost as much as Nash.